Dartsdown
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2017 9:33 pm
You've heard of chess boxing. You've heard of... erm... yes, it turns out there are other hybrid sports. Now, inspired by a recent Facebook comment thread, I've invented Dartsdown!
One-sentence synopsis
Dartsdown is the Countdown numbers game, but you pick your starting numbers by throwing six darts.
Rules
A game is played to a previously agreed number of rounds (say 3).
In each round, each player throws six darts at a standard dartboard to give that player's six starting numbers. The rest of the round is the same as the Countdown numbers game - a target is generated and the players have 30 seconds to get as close as they can to the target using their numbers. Scoring works the same as on the show.
If the players are tied at the end of the game, they go to sudden death - additional rounds are played until one player is ahead.
Rationale
At first I thought that the players could play to the same selection like in the normal game, and you could alternate round-by-round who throws to pick the numbers. However, this creates a perverse incentive for a player who's ahead in the final round to throw their darts at the floor if they happen to be the thrower. You could fix this by making it "first to N points" rather than "best of N rounds" but that would mean the duration of the game would be quite unpredictable and depend heavily on the skill of the players (very much like standard darts, as we know from previous COLINs).
Having each player "pick" their own numbers adds a bit of unpredictability, but not too much that it's entirely a game of luck. If you get a "good" selection, containing a healthy balance of multiples of 10 and smaller numbers, this would increase your chances of winning the round, but depending on the target there's still a small chance of the other player's "bad" selection turning out to be the easier one. Also, if you always pick your own numbers, every round tests the darts and mental arithmetic skills of both players. There's some element of being able to trade-off one skill against another - a weaker darts player can still win by being better at arithmetic, and vice versa - but you still need a basic level of skill in both disciplines.
Playtesting
You'll be pleased to hear that I have comprehensively playtested this game by playing one round of it by myself. The numbers were 20, 4, 18, 60, 20 and 3, and the target was 599. I got 10 points. Working out how is left as an exercise for the reader.
Admin and rules I haven't decided on yet
Very little thought has been given to how this can actually work in a pub, which needs fixing because this definitely needs to be played at COLIN. According to my bare minimum thinking, you should only need one host. The host (caller) has the fiddly job of writing down each player's numbers and making them visible to the players from the Arithmetic Arena. They then have to generate the target, start the clock, and ask for the players' declarations and solutions like in a normal numbers game.
There's no reason there couldn't be more than two players. Also, the players don't have to play at the same time to the same target. What if you want to have ten players? In a pub environment it's almost impossible to get ten specific people in the same room at the same time so it would be easier to get each person to play their turn independently as and when they're available. Also it's probably better for spectators if there's only one selection and target to look at at once.
What if a dart bounces out or otherwise doesn't score? Do you now have a zero in your selection? Can you re-throw the dart? Can you re-throw the same dart more than once until it scores?
Unless you're very good at darts, the numbers games are going to be difficult. If both players are crap at darts, then you'll often get rounds where it's very hard or impossible to get within 10. To avoid a succession of no-score rounds, I'm thinking a solution greater than 10 away should score 1 point, provided the opponent doesn't beat it.
One-sentence synopsis
Dartsdown is the Countdown numbers game, but you pick your starting numbers by throwing six darts.
Rules
A game is played to a previously agreed number of rounds (say 3).
In each round, each player throws six darts at a standard dartboard to give that player's six starting numbers. The rest of the round is the same as the Countdown numbers game - a target is generated and the players have 30 seconds to get as close as they can to the target using their numbers. Scoring works the same as on the show.
If the players are tied at the end of the game, they go to sudden death - additional rounds are played until one player is ahead.
Rationale
At first I thought that the players could play to the same selection like in the normal game, and you could alternate round-by-round who throws to pick the numbers. However, this creates a perverse incentive for a player who's ahead in the final round to throw their darts at the floor if they happen to be the thrower. You could fix this by making it "first to N points" rather than "best of N rounds" but that would mean the duration of the game would be quite unpredictable and depend heavily on the skill of the players (very much like standard darts, as we know from previous COLINs).
Having each player "pick" their own numbers adds a bit of unpredictability, but not too much that it's entirely a game of luck. If you get a "good" selection, containing a healthy balance of multiples of 10 and smaller numbers, this would increase your chances of winning the round, but depending on the target there's still a small chance of the other player's "bad" selection turning out to be the easier one. Also, if you always pick your own numbers, every round tests the darts and mental arithmetic skills of both players. There's some element of being able to trade-off one skill against another - a weaker darts player can still win by being better at arithmetic, and vice versa - but you still need a basic level of skill in both disciplines.
Playtesting
You'll be pleased to hear that I have comprehensively playtested this game by playing one round of it by myself. The numbers were 20, 4, 18, 60, 20 and 3, and the target was 599. I got 10 points. Working out how is left as an exercise for the reader.
Admin and rules I haven't decided on yet
Very little thought has been given to how this can actually work in a pub, which needs fixing because this definitely needs to be played at COLIN. According to my bare minimum thinking, you should only need one host. The host (caller) has the fiddly job of writing down each player's numbers and making them visible to the players from the Arithmetic Arena. They then have to generate the target, start the clock, and ask for the players' declarations and solutions like in a normal numbers game.
There's no reason there couldn't be more than two players. Also, the players don't have to play at the same time to the same target. What if you want to have ten players? In a pub environment it's almost impossible to get ten specific people in the same room at the same time so it would be easier to get each person to play their turn independently as and when they're available. Also it's probably better for spectators if there's only one selection and target to look at at once.
What if a dart bounces out or otherwise doesn't score? Do you now have a zero in your selection? Can you re-throw the dart? Can you re-throw the same dart more than once until it scores?
Unless you're very good at darts, the numbers games are going to be difficult. If both players are crap at darts, then you'll often get rounds where it's very hard or impossible to get within 10. To avoid a succession of no-score rounds, I'm thinking a solution greater than 10 away should score 1 point, provided the opponent doesn't beat it.